LESS THAN SIX HOURS LEFT IN OT SEASON - Your Guide To The Transition
The OT Season officially comes to an end at midnight this coming Saturday, or one week before the first game as per tradition. There will be some cleanup of a preliminary nature starting before then, but it will be mainly background items and subtle strategies to attempt to maximize the amount of football content before the actual deadline comes.
What does that mean for you? Veterans will know the answer, but for newer folks or infrequent visitors, here is your yearly reminder.
To start the ramp-down, however, at midnight on Friday, you may no longer post threads about your favorite shows, movies, books, music and so forth. Friday can be a transitional day for OT, giving people an opportunity to get their final OT threads in.
One further point, when we say “end of OT season”, it is more a “significant narrowing of scope” – in other words, not every single OT thread will be removed outright. What you must do, if you plan on posting such a thread, is provide a pretty damn good explanation of why it should stay (or the reason may be self-evident) – and yes, frivolous ones will be removed as always. As usual, there are usually narrow exceptions made for major breaking news of regional or national importance and a few other things and that’s what we mean here. Those are just a few examples of “allowable OT”. I realize some people would prefer a hard stop, but this is a community and we’ll consider things that might be of note to the community, even during the “non-OT” months. Such threads should be an EXCEPTION, and the onus is on the blogger to justify it.
A few things of note (non-comprehensive, of course – we reserve the right to throw other stuff out there too):
1) The Snowflake Rule will apply after games, but we will weigh threads individually and those which provide, for example, detailed analysis of a single series or play or video analysis will probably stay. Those threads which are mere hot takes that could easily fit into a snowflake thread will likely go. I understand why the Snowflake threads are not popular in many segments of the MGoPopulation, but there has to be a way to mitigate hot takes and make sure they don’t bury more worthwhile content. The whole point is to make sure the better user-generated content remains – we have some excellent football minds on the board and I really don’t want their contributions to be buried by your two paragraphs which amount to “that was awesome” or “that sucked” or what-have-you.
2) Having seen #1, please take care in general to consider carefully what you want to say if you’re going to create a thread. Search the threads for similar threads – that’s typically what I use as a measuring stick for “redundant”. As for breaking news, make sure that you check the publish dates on articles – you can almost be assured that anything over an hour old has made it to the board barring a huge oversight (and sometimes, something does get overlooked). Normal rules on sourcing apply as well, so for example, be judicious with Bleacher Report, no Chatsports, and don’t post a whole Freep article out of spite – post a quote, link it, and give people the opportunity to avoid reading it.
3) DO NOT attack players or fellow MGoBloggers personally. Ad hominems are essentially your ticket to Bolivia or worse depending on the severity of the statement. I know people get emotional after games, but do try to run your initial reaction by your frontal cortex first for proper review. Criticizing play and strategy is fine, but basically bringing someone’s mom into it, if you will, is your way of telling the mods you no longer wish to be here.
4) Report potential infractions or questionable posts in the Mod Sticky with a link to the comment or thread. We will review them as soon as possible and dole out point deductions and so forth accordingly. If it is raining in La Paz, we will provide appropriate gear assuming we did not spend the money on beer first. If there is a delay in getting to an issue, remember that the mods have lives too, but if it is something that really should go, say, right now, tweet me at @LorneEC3 and I’ll address it right then or make a note to do it ASAP. Yes, I can’t stand the threads with “IBD” or “Moms please delete” in 40 different forms and posts either, so let’s try to mitigate that, eh?
5) Sunday (also Thursday and Monday) NFL threads will be allowed as usual. Pro sports events which are significant are fine as well (World Series, NBA or NHL coverage, etc…) – just not every bit of news like we get during the draft and free agency periods sometimes. I know people gripe about the amount of Lions coverage during the NFL season, but try to remember that a sizeable number of the active users on this site also live in Michigan. Do feel free to throw in some coverage of your own teams, if you so choose, but be selective due to OT restrictions.
6) Threads covering other college games should typically be OK, but do try to keep the tradition of “Saturday Noon Games Thread”, for example, on the weekends (and on Thursdays and Fridays when sometimes there is a significant slate too). The tradition of MACtion is absolutely OK. If something noteworthy is happening in a particular game, a separate thread should be fine but detail the reason for breaking out of the open thread coverage.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:27 PM ^
Thanks. I do appreciate thread starters giving the obligatory "OT:" then typing a title that no one ever would relate with sports. Makes things so much more clear.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
Oh happy days!! I’m so excited! Miami vs Florida at 7pm ESPN!
August 21st, 2019 at 4:32 PM ^
I heard from someone that it will cost people $100 to be a fan on the GameDay set, which is fucking absurd if true.
August 22nd, 2019 at 6:35 AM ^
I think you have to buy a regular ticket to Disney World to be on the Gameday set. Also, I guess you can't even really see the set from any good angles where they have it setup and they are not allowing signs of any type.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:36 PM ^
already giving my florida gator coworker trouble on that one, just the usual trying to stoke his worries about the game and potentially losing the first game out of the gate.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:36 PM ^
already giving my florida gator coworker trouble on that one, just the usual trying to stoke his worries about the game and potentially losing the first game out of the gate.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
This is the best time of the year.
August 21st, 2019 at 7:06 PM ^
Agreed! Can’t wait to get flooded with content next week!
August 22nd, 2019 at 6:35 AM ^
It has already been more than I can keep up with some days!
August 21st, 2019 at 4:33 PM ^
I think Peppers should have been a running back... discuss...
August 21st, 2019 at 4:52 PM ^
Fire Harbaugh after each punt and hire him back after each touchdown...
Basketball School
Baseball School
August 21st, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
Oh yeah, that NFL coaching position is opening up.... Harbs is clearly out of here...
August 21st, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
Last one: Meta - something is wrong with my phone... can we make an app?
I'll show myself out
August 23rd, 2019 at 7:54 PM ^
Your phone is fine but did you hear Nike makes a shirt now that changes with sweat?
August 21st, 2019 at 4:33 PM ^
I may be a constituency of one but personally I'd rather keep the obtuse O.T. threads if it meant getting rid of the constant barrage of feelings-post. Those drive me insane - they provide no real context for discussion - just the OP's "feelings" about things in general and their need to share them.
God forbid their important thoughts get buried inside one of the six or seven threads already up and discussing whatever they have feelings about. Oh no...that wont do. Nobody will see their important feelings and know how they feel about things. And then the mods like LSA2000 have to spend time doing clean-up on isle three nuking them.
Personally give me a good marble counter top or dog anal gland thread any day. At least with then I know what i'm signing up for.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
Agreed and I wouldn't mind if Eli kept his mysteries posts going through the football season.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:47 PM ^
100% agree with you mGO
August 23rd, 2019 at 6:20 PM ^
I need to reply to my own comment....i feel like I’ve landed in a parallel universe.
d8-0
Did this thread not originate a few days ago?
August 21st, 2019 at 5:44 PM ^
You mean I can't start a thread - "I has a sad"?
Clean up on aisle 3 of isle 3.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:24 PM ^
Soooo...OT Gravy threads ok... Perspective threads not ok.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:45 PM ^
O.T. Gravy Threads boring but OK
Endless threads posted about an individual's feelings about a particular game with no insight, no analysis or suggesting something incredibly stupid that could easily be expressed inside of the countless other fucking threads about the same game not OK
August 22nd, 2019 at 5:05 AM ^
Only if you have strong feelings about gravy ... which I do.
August 23rd, 2019 at 7:21 PM ^
Me too. In many cases...it only qualifies as a meal if it has gravy on it.
August 23rd, 2019 at 9:11 PM ^
So, the red stuff folks put on spaghetti - sauce or gravy?
August 24th, 2019 at 5:17 AM ^
Sometimes it's neither. When we were kids my sister had learned how to boil water and cook pasta, so one day she made me "spaghetti" by cooking spaghetti noodles and then pouring ketchup all over it.
Chef Boyardee would have been proud.
August 24th, 2019 at 12:36 AM ^
Not sure how I feel about this.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^
Have to put my thinking cap on for my final OT board post...
August 22nd, 2019 at 3:18 AM ^
Those chimps are just weird looking. They look a bit like us but those feet are really hand feet with the big toe as a thumb.
August 23rd, 2019 at 6:33 PM ^
I'd be so much more productive if my big toe was a thumb instead.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
And so it begins...
August 21st, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
Welp, about time to come out of hibernation I guess!!
August 21st, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
This was awesome! That sucks! (Just getting it out of my system.)
Also, I hate Ed Hominems.
August 21st, 2019 at 4:53 PM ^
Ed is misunderstood.
August 21st, 2019 at 5:30 PM ^
No wonder Ed's misunderstood. Hominems is one o' them homonyms!
August 21st, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
I like to know the rules, thank you for the Complete Guide to OT during “the season”
I especially like “and yes, frivolous ones will be removed as always” ....
Like there has ever been I truly frivolous OT thread...either before or during FB season!
8-)
August 21st, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
Thank god
August 21st, 2019 at 5:15 PM ^
Say it louder for the people in back!
August 21st, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
On Friday night someone should post an airing of grievances thread in which we can get all our ad hominem attacks out there. I got a lotta problems with you people, and on Friday you're going to hear about it!
August 21st, 2019 at 5:47 PM ^
That's just Festivus for the rest of us.
August 22nd, 2019 at 12:38 AM ^
Koalas and faux Aussies need not reply.
August 21st, 2019 at 6:04 PM ^
I want to start an OT thread to share my feelings about LSA's use of the Calibri 10 point font.
August 21st, 2019 at 8:27 PM ^
I agree...Times New Roman 12 point font.
August 21st, 2019 at 9:19 PM ^
1998 called. It wants it’s font back.
August 22nd, 2019 at 5:25 AM ^
The Grammar Police called. They want you to drop the apostrophe and back away slowly.
Sorry - I couldn't resist.
August 21st, 2019 at 6:06 PM ^
IT'S FINALLY HERE! I love this post. Thanks LSA as always. FOOTBALL!!!
I know he freaked out and got sent to Bolivia for a reason, but I miss Mr. Yost. He was a great manager of the Open Threads on GameDays. Anyone gonna volunteer to be the go-to for that and post those nice schedules? I assume it's M-Dog again like last year.
I would do it, but I don't trust my consistency and I've also kind of taken my responsibility to do my part in the MGoBlog experience as the "There are..." guy.
August 21st, 2019 at 6:42 PM ^
Lots of beer, pizza and great football!!!
August 21st, 2019 at 6:48 PM ^
TL;DR (I kid, I kid)
Dear Footbaw, welcome back!
August 21st, 2019 at 9:04 PM ^
Snowflakes in August! Oh joy!
August 21st, 2019 at 9:34 PM ^
screw the snowflake rule brah, Hawt takes burn sh*t down!!!!